Ulrich Investment Consultants - Institutions and Fiduciaries

Nonprofits

Ulrich is proud to support the success of charitable and non-profit organizations whose mission is doing good for others.

We help navigate complex financial situations to identify, create and integrate lasting solutions while building long-range plans to aim to ensure each unique cause or mission and the people they serve benefits from our expertise.

Ulrich recognizes the investment challenges facing foundations, endowments, charitable organizations, and other not-for-profit entities. As financial stewards, staff and management boards frequently walk a fine line between spending mandates and portfolio viability and often require assistance balancing the need to earn competitive returns while reducing unnecessary risk.

Working closely with your executive team and/or board of directors, Ulrich will focus on the organization’s goals and customize investment strategies accordingly, all while staying on top of industry trends.

By analyzing spending policies, operating budgets and cash flows, we can develop a tailored investment program to help your organization thrive financially so you can continue to focus on doing good for others.

Ulrich can further augment the investment structure through our specialized experience working with charitable organizations that have socially responsible or mission-driven investment philosophies, helping to design well-structured guidelines and portfolios based on these unique philosophical views.

As an SEC Registered Investment Advisory firm, Ulrich understands the nuances, ethics and standards that fiduciary entities like yours embrace. We serve in a co-fiduciary role and see ourselves as an extension of the Board and/or executive team, providing guidance in the pursuit of your mission.

OUR AIM IS TRUE

Meeting a unique mission is the target of all non-profits. To reach your objective, you need a firm that has the expertise, skill, and capabilities to execute strategic financial planning and portfolio management tailored to your organization. Because running a non-profit can be highly complex, providing individualized service through a hands-on, process-driven approach, Ulrich Investment Consultants gives organizational leadership the confidence and peace of mind that reaching those goals are in sight.

OUR GOAL IS TO HIT THE MARK

Ulrich uses a disciplined, three-step process when working through our clients’ financial planning and portfolio management needs. Informed guidance, insightful thinking and diligent attention to detail are key attributes we bring to each relationship. For more than 30 years*, Ulrich has adhered to these principles to help our non-profit clients maintain financial success and security. As a trusted adviser we strive to offer the best possible investment advice, valuable insights and a broad range of consulting services with an emphasis on personalized service.

Ulrich is an independent, SEC-registered, employee-owned company. Owing to our independence, we are not conflicted like many of our Wall Street competitors. Our motivation is not revenue generation; rather, it is our client’s satisfaction as we always aim to deliver our advice with your best interests in mind. We understand that each day can bring a new challenge, both predictable and random, and our experienced staff will bring all necessary services at their disposal to meet your needs.

WE AIM HIGH TOGETHER

The Ulrich team works closely with each client to help them zero in on specific goals. Guided by our broad range of experience, we bring those targets into our sights together, tracking them carefully to better aid you in reaching them. Trust is the linchpin of our process—a thorough and effective methodology.

We work closely with clients to implement strategies that use high-quality investment vehicles, both public and private with optimal fee structures, monitoring progress along the way to aim to ensure the right goals are achieved.

Our comprehensive three-pronged approach to portfolio management moves from planning to implementation to monitoring—continually focusing on the organization’s mission and objectives.

PLANNING

Develop a customized, flexible plan that articulates goals and objectives
Consider spending needs, cashflow management and operating budgets
Establish risk tolerance and asset allocation guidelines

IMPLEMENTATION

Identify appropriate investment products and strategies
Implement trading and rebalancing
Employ socially responsible or mission-driven investment philosophy where appropriate

MONITORING

Produce comprehensive and informative quarterly performance reports
Monitor and control costs
Communicate at a frequency that meets your needs
Schedule meetings to review and provide updates on progress towards your organization’s goals

THE ULRICH DIFFERENCE

Professional financial planning and portfolio management. Practical solutions. Flexible, personalized service tailored to non-profit organizations. These elements are all a part of our holistic investment consulting. We take a 360° view to give you a keener perspective on your organization’s investment targets. It’s a different approach that takes the entire scope—practices, processes, people and more—into account to create solutions that align with your mission.

We are agile, independent, and finely focused on client service, thus our targets are spot-on personal attention and customized solutions. Along with leading industry partners, we can bring a wealth of resources to bear in achieving our clients’ goals.

We work with the executive team and/or board of directors that face challenges such as balancing spending mandates with investment opportunities, to optimize spending policies, operating budgets, and cash flows, designed within well-structured guidelines all while upholding the mission of the organization.

We pride ourselves on excellence, integrity, attention to detail, timeliness, and a commitment to help our non-profit clients meet their mission.

Challenges You May Face:

Outdated Investment Policy Statement
Determining appropriate asset allocation to support spending needs
Lack of investment oversight
Insufficient understanding or investment expertise
Poor reporting including lack of comprehensive return and fee benchmarking

Your Goals May Include:

Investment Policy Statement development and ongoing updates
Asset liability modeling to support spending policy goals
Discretionary management services (Outsourced Chief Investment Officer – “OCIO” Services)
Fiduciary training for both board and staff
Comprehensive transparent reporting, including manager returns and fees versus appropriate benchmarks

Ulrich Case Study: Institutions and Endowments

In this client scenario**, you’ll learn how Ulrich’s financial consulting, investment approach, and outsourced Chief Investment Officer services helped an established institution review their portfolio performance, develop an Investment Policy Statement (IPS), optimize their investments, select quality managers, and set up their Investment Committee for future success.

A long established institution had been self-managing their endowment for many years.

They were blessed with knowledgeable people who served on their Investment Committee, but as with many institutions, there was constant turnover of the board members, and no institutional knowledge as to why they invested in what.

Initially, the institution contacted Ulrich for performance reporting services, as their custodian did not provide a performance report and they didn’t know how they were doing. In addition, once we started working closely with the foundation, we were quick to realize that there was no Investment Policy Statement, and no guidelines to how they were managing the assets.

We started by understanding the cash flow needs of the organization, then worked to build an asset/liability study, followed by an asset allocation model that would meet their risk/return objectives and time horizon. We were then able to help them develop a formal IPS that governs the portfolio. We then selected quality managers and set up ongoing monitoring and reporting. We also created an online vault where they could store all of the meeting minutes, reports, etc. so there is an historical archive of why decisions were made to help future committee members.

Currently, the board is operating effectively as fiduciaries, allowing us to operate as an outsourced Chief Investment Officer (OCIO) for the foundation. This keeps the portfolio in line with the IPS and gives us discretion over manager selection.

*Includes years of service prior to UIC.

**In this case study the clients' name is withheld but the facts provided are otherwise accurate.

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